"Basement known to take on water in heavy rain"

[Anonymous]

Okay, points for being straightforward about it, I guess. You can see dampness in the photos. Otherwise, it's a cute house. What do you suppose it would cost to waterproof the basement for good? Redfin says the property has a minimal flood risk.

https://www.redfin.com/VA/Alexandria/20-E-Bellefonte-Ave-22301/home/11846825

[Anonymous]

It depends where they are relative to their neighbors in terms of elevation, and whether there's a storm drain that floods in the vicinity. You need to go, look around and ask the neighbors.

We have a basement that flooded a little years ago, because we're at the bottom of our street, and the street that's behind our house is at a higher elevation, so the water pours down both into our yard. My husband dug a trench along the back (now greened) that absorbs water and lets run-off go to the side of our property down a drive way and into the road. No more flooding since.

All this to say, there are possible remedies. The best remedies will not be indoors (aside from a sump pump), but outdoors, in your yard with trenches and drains.

[Anonymous]

^ but if it's so bad they felt they had to disclose, maybe remedies will be costly.

[Anonymous]

Basement waterproofing can easily run 20K so I’d either factor that into the offer or avoid.

[Anonymous]

It's a very cute house.

I don't see where the gutters empty. Underground? I'd bet there is a clog or they are not pulling water away from the house.

I also don't see a sump pump in the one basement photo.

I'd bet it's very fixable. But yeah, it may cost $10-20k.

[Anonymous]

I was going to say $25k for drains and a sump pump. Not a huge deal. It’s a square, unfinished basement.

[Anonymous]

Back in the 70's we lived by a stream and when the stream flooded, so did our basement. We took a weekend and dad had us all tarring the basement (there are better products now). I can still remember the smell of that tar, which probably stunk for months. Then we put up that infamous wood paneling.

[Anonymous]

I'd pass on this one. They were forced to disclose because you can see the water in the basement photos. It's unbelievable to me that this is just some 10k-20k fix. Any sane realtor would've told them to take care of it, knowing the price hit would be greater. It's a 1.4M house ffs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'd pass on this one. They were forced to disclose because you can see the water in the basement photos. It's unbelievable to me that this is just some 10k-20k fix. Any sane realtor would've told them to take care of it, knowing the price hit would be greater. It's a 1.4M house ffs.

I think you just haven’t been through it with a house before.

The basement is unfinished. The homeowners probably just didn’t sweat it. They may not have the cash to do it before the sale.

If the basement is finished, it’s a huge PITA.

It’s not finished, so if you buy this house and you want the basement dry, you can either dig exterior drains or do interior drains (they’re both “outside” the house, it’s just weather they are on one side or the other of the wall).

Or, you can start by checking/extending the gutters. I don’t think that will work but there’s no harm in the meantime except maybe wet toes for laundry.

[Anonymous]

The other reason the current and new homeowners might just let it go is that this basement has no egress. It’s not really space you would want to finish. It’s a utility space. So it’s just not a big deal.

[Anonymous]

Ask if they've ever tried remediating. Bring in an expert on remediation before making an offer -- the slower market should allow this.

Our kids bought a place in a NOVA suburb with a basement that flooded. They remediated. It cost a lot less than 20 or 25k. Less than 10, in fact.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:^ but if it's so bad they felt they had to disclose, maybe remedies will be costly.

This. We spent 10 years and $50k on multiple waterproofing solutions in our old house - internal and external. House was at the bottom of a hill and the houses on either side were torn down and rebuilt at elevations above ours. Nothing worked permanently. We moved and the new owners tore down and rebuilt at a higher elevation. Hope it worked for them.

[Anonymous]

See if you can get a report on previous insurance claims filed on the house.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ask if they've ever tried remediating. Bring in an expert on remediation before making an offer -- the slower market should allow this.

Our kids bought a place in a NOVA suburb with a basement that flooded. They remediated. It cost a lot less than 20 or 25k. Less than 10, in fact.

Ok, I now see we're talking about Del Ray ha ha. Cue the Del Ray haters . . .

I doubt there's a whole lot that can be done in this instance, or surely the sellers would have done it. The basement does look like it could have actually been finished and been usable space had flooding not been an issue, too. But it has a washer and dryer at floor level, so it can't be that it routinely gets a foot of water or something.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:See if you can get a report on previous insurance claims filed on the house.

You're clueless. Floods aren't covered by standard insurance policies.